


His Perfect World

by Mooshkamoogle



Category: Half-Life
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Dream World, False Memories, Gen, Hallucinations, Panic Attacks, Prophetic Visions, Questioning Reality, References to Illness, Visions, false reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25525366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mooshkamoogle/pseuds/Mooshkamoogle
Summary: Gordon Freeman lives happily with his family in the neighborhood of housing provided by Black Mesa for employees and their families. It's all he could ever hope for and he wants to stay there for as long as he can, but something won't stop bothering him, and he knows he's forgetting something. He just can't remember what.His perfect world can't last forever.
Relationships: Barney Calhoun/Gordon Freeman
Comments: 13
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I got really attached to Gordon having a son thanks to HLVRAI, so Joshua gets to be mentioned in this lmao.

He woke up late in the morning, way past when his alarm usually would have gone off. Next to him, he could feel his boyfriend already sitting up in bed and stretching. The sun poked through their bedroom curtains, shining over his face and into his eyes, causing him to not only close them again but cover them with his arm.

“Nuh-uh,” Barney, the aforementioned boyfriend, said as he shook his arm gently, “You’re not going back to sleep, Gordon. You’ll make us late.”

“Time?” Gordon grumbled from under his arm, he’d look at the clock himself but that would require putting on his glasses.

“Let’s see….” Barney leaned over him, purposefully putting all his weight on Gordon to squish him, Gordon couldn’t see it, but he was grinning evilly.

Now waking up more, Gordon couldn’t help but laugh and try to push him off, “I meant, look at your own clock!”

“But yours is nicer!” Barney laughed in response, his laughter cut off suddenly, “Shit… Remember what I just said about being late?”

“Yeah?”

“Well…” He motioned his head at the clock, “We already are!”

Suddenly finding the strength to push Barney off, Gordon practically slammed his glasses onto his face in order to see the time, unfortunately seeing that he wasn’t lying (this time). The pair were a good few hours late for work. There was something important he had to do today; he just knew it!”

“Who do you think is gonna be angrier at us…?” Barney said through gritted teeth.

“Doesn’t matter! We gotta go!” Gordon leaped out of bed and rushed to get dressed, Barney quickly followed suit, neither was in any rush to get yelled at, yet they couldn’t afford to be any later.

Once they were dressed they hurried out the door bedroom door.

“I’ll make coffee, you check if Josh is awake!” Barney pointed in the direction of the child’s door and Gordon nodded in response, the panic seemingly taking away his voice. Not an uncommon occurrence for him.

Josh, or Joshua, was Gordon’s son from a past relationship and although things didn’t work out with his mom, they did end on good terms, and Joshua chose to live with Gordon. He was a sweet kid who adored astrology, always talking about how someday he was going to contact aliens and that they’d be the best of friends. He was only 4 so all that still seemed possible to him.

Something about aliens just rubbed Gordon the wrong way, he just couldn’t quite put his finger on why that was. He used to love the thought of aliens. Now? Now the thought of them ever coming here… it almost scared him.

Gordon pushed open the door to his son’s room, only to see that he was already gone. Which would be relieving if he wasn’t, again, 4. Gordon’s voice caught in his throat as he rushed downstairs, getting ready to tell Barney.

“Hey!” Barney stopped him before he could continue to panic, “Just found a note from Josh, he said that Mrs.Vance took him in with Alyx.” His tone was soothing, attempting to keep his boyfriend calm. 

Gordon sighed, then took a deep breath and Barney passed his thermos to him with a smile. They headed for the front door before they could waste any more time.

Stepping out into the sunlight filled them both with a sense of calm as they looked over their neighborhood, there were other families here, at least one of their parents working somewhere on or in the Black Mesa complex. It was nice that housing was provided for them.

Right next door was the Vance family, they had their own kid. A little girl named Alyx, she and Joshua were already good friends and they played together a lot, which Gordon thought was nice, since he didn’t actually get to work with Dr.Eli Vance a lot, so at least they could hang out when their kids wanted to play.

For a moment, he tried to picture them, finding it oddly troubling to do so. Azian felt like a distant memory, her face too blurry to actually come to mind, Eli looked older, more tired and Alyx? Well he just couldn’t picture her at all. Instead, all that came to mind was a young woman that he didn’t recognize. His brow furrowed as he tried to figure out who he was thinking of, something in the back of his mind told him that WAS Alyx, but he did his best to ignore that.

“Are you doing okay?” Barney’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, “You’re just kinda staring off into nothingness…”

Gordon met Barney’s worried eyes and forced a smile, despite how heavy his chest felt and the pit of dread that seemed to be growing in his stomach, he still kept his happy face. Signing to Barney, ‘I’m fine. Just tired.’

Barney paused for a moment before nodding, the gleam in his eyes suggested he didn’t really believe Gordon, “If you say so, Doc.”

The two climbed into the car and began the drive to Black Mesa’s complex, with Barney at the wheel. Watching the scenery go by finally started to calm Gordon down, all that worry, over what? Being late? It was hardly the first time, and it’s not like he had anything important to do, other than his usual research.

“Wasn’t there…?’ he shook that thought away as quickly as it came.

So he had some weird memories and odd thoughts? They were probably because of a dream he had but can’t really remember, dreams are like that sometimes.

Barney glanced at him, his face was still twisted in worry. He really didn’t trust that Gordon was alright, he just seemed so out of it. Lost in a way that was almost uncharacteristic for him, but he wasn’t talking about why. He really didn’t know what to do about it.

As they pulled into the complex, Barney sighed, finally breaking the long silence, “Are you sure you’re alright? It’s okay if you feel sick, I’ll take you home, tell Dr.Breen, handle everything from there. You don’t have to worry.” He parked the car and looked at Gordon.

“I’m fine, you don’t have to worry.” The return of his voice was a bit comforting, “I’d tell you if I was sick.” He unbuckled and stepped out of the car.

“Oh really?” Barney snickered as he stepped out, “This coming from the guy who stayed up for 3-days in a row just to finish writing a paper? The same guy who needs to get carried out of his office some days because he gets so caught up in working he forgets he needs to go home?”

Gordon’s cheeks went flush and he crossed his arms, “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” he grumbled.

Barney laughed and walked over to him, putting an arm around his shoulders, “Sure you don’t!”

That seemed to get Barney’s mind off of whatever was bothering Gordon.

When they entered the building they split up, Barney heading to go get an earful from his supervisor then head to his post as a Security Guard, and Gordon heading to the scientist locker rooms to start his day.

Which were completely empty when he arrived, to his relief of course. He didn’t want to have to deal with any of the older scientists lecturing him on being late and taking this more seriously. He deposited his jacket in his locker and slipped on his lab coat instead, but as he shut the locker his eyes wandered, drifting over to the HEV Suits nearby. 

He walked over to the railing just in front of them, staring them down. Specifically the one in the middle, the fact that he wasn’t putting it on almost felt wrong. Yet, he knew he didn’t need to wear one.

‘There was something I needed these for…’ He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, ‘No, there wasn’t, I’m not working with anything THAT dangerous!’

Another thought that didn’t belong, trying to psyche him out again.

“You’ll wear one those eventually!” A voice sounded from behind him, causing him to almost jump out of his skin.

“My apologies, Dr.Freeman!” Said the voice, who turned out to be Dr.Kleiner, “I didn’t mean to startle you!”

Gordon gave him a thumbs up that seemingly meant, “Don’t worry about it!”, letting out a breath of relief, again unsure of why he was so freaked out. Kleiner came up beside him, looking over the HEV Suits with a smile.

“It really is a shame that the experiment didn't get accepted, I found it fascinating.” He hummed mournfully, “Although I will admit, it did sound a bit dangerous. If it had gone through, you would have been wearing one of these today!”

That’s right… There was an experiment that he pitched but it had been shut down due to the potential dangers behind it, he was told to put more research into it and maybe then they’d consider it, but for now, it would just be an idea.

Why didn’t he remember that until just now?

“Y...yeah…” Maybe Barney was right, maybe he was sick, something just didn’t feel right about this, “Dr.Kleiner… Do I look alright?”

“You look just fine to me, Gordon!” Kleiner smiled at him.

“Thank you, but that’s not what I meant.” He chuckled, “I mean, do I look sick to you?”

“Hmm…” Kleiner placed the back of his hand on Gordon’s forehead, comparing it to his own, after a moment he pulled away, “You don’t have a fever. Do you feel okay?”

“I suppose…” He folded his arms tightly, “There’s just something wrong, that I can’t quite put my finger on. I’m not sure what...”

“These past few days have been a bit crazy for you, it could just be all the stress finally wearing off.” Kleiner said after some thought, “Take it easy for today.”

That answer felt unsatisfying, but he took it anyway, having nothing else to go on.

“Guess I’ll avoid Magnusson then.” He responded smugly.

“You probably should do that anyway.” Kleiner gave him a pained smile, “He seems to be rather angry with you today, for being late and something about a microwave casserole. He wasn’t exactly making himself clear.”

Gordon avoided eye contact, but the smug smile that remained on his face revealed that he knew exactly what he meant by microwave casserole and he wasn’t sorry for it. 

“He gets mad about everything, I wouldn’t worry about it.” Gordon said, giving Kleiner a pat on the shoulder, “I’m gonna head to my office, I’ll catch you later.”

He stepped out of the locker room and began to slowly walk down the hallway towards the offices, his eyes drifting down the split in the hallway that led to the level 3 test chamber, the thought of going filled him with an unimaginable fear, the fear of what could happen down there. What WILL happen down there.

In an instant the lights flickered off, when they came on, shining dimly, he saw that walls around him had become darkened and dirty, with bloodstains splattered over them. A trail of blood led to a scientist that leaned on the wall, some strange creature chewed on their head, while they stayed there, motionless.

“No...No!” He gasped, a hand coming to cover his mouth.

Gordon began to shake, when he looked down at himself he found that he was in the HEV Suit, and in his hand he clenched a crowbar. He didn’t have time to dwell on that as a wail of agony broke into his mind, the dead scientist began to rise from where they sat.

He backed up, his back hitting the wall behind him, “This can’t be happening…!”

The scientist stumbled towards him, wailing in pain as blood poured down their body. If they were somehow alive, then they wouldn’t be for long.

The scientist was only able to get close enough to leave a bloody mark on Gordon’s suit before he took off, running as fast he could towards the offices, squeezing his eyes shut and following his memory.

‘This isn’t happening!’ he screamed in his own head.

The wailing was soon drowned out by distance and the sounds of normal chatter came to replace it, but he didn’t stop running, just in case the monster still followed him. He could hear coworkers around him.

“Morning, Dr.Freeman.”

“Dr.Freeman are you alright?”

“What’s he running from?”

“Did something happen?”

He didn’t stop to answer them and only opened his eyes when he finally reached his office, which he shut himself in as fast as he could. The second the door was closed, he fell against it, slowly sliding to sit on the floor, his whole body shaking.

He brought his knees to his chest, noticing that he was back in his normal clothing.

“That wasn’t real… That wasn’t real…” He thought to himself, he looked down at his body to confirm again that he was in his usual clothing, and he was, but something horrifying caught his eyes. In an instant, he pulled his lab coat off.

Just under the collar, on his chest, was a smear of blood.

He stared in horror, his heart was thumping in his chest. It was real.

“That’s impossible…I never even went….” his mind was racing with a billion questions, the only thing that could answer them would be going back to confirm whether or not that actually happened, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to stand up, every time he tried the panic set back in and caused him to drop right back to the floor, all he was able to do was the lock his office door. Just in case that thing came following him.

Outside his door he could hear the sounds of his coworkers talking, while he desperately wanted to open the door and reassure that everything was okay, it seemed like nothing in his body wanted to respond to him.

Eli Vance had been led to the crowd by a rather irate Magnusson, who only spoke vaguely on what had happened, as he had barely seen it himself.

“Not only does he show up late, but he comes running through the halls like his damn life was on the line.” He hissed as he gestured to the group of scientists, “Ignores everyone and shuts himself in his office. I’m getting real tired of that boy.” 

He then mumbled something about not understanding why on Earth Kleiner has so much faith in him that Eli didn’t bother to listen too.

He walked to the door and gave it a gentle knock, “Dr.Freeman, are you alright?” no response, that wasn’t unusual, he wasn’t always a talkative one, especially around large groups of people. He tried the door, but it was still locked. He stepped back and rubbed his chin.

Kleiner, who had only recently come over, watched him with nervous eyes, “He seemed just fine when we talked earlier. Although, he did ask if he looked sick…”

“Did he?” Eli pressed.

“No, not at all. He seemed like his normal self, didn’t even have a fever.” Kleiner bit his thumb, before coming up with an idea “I’ll see if I can contact Calhoun.”

“What’s he going to do?” Magnusson grumbled, “If you two can’t get in I doubt he can.”

“Maybe not from the door.” Kleiner motioned at an entrance into the air vents nearby them.

“I see…” Judging by the tone of voice, Magnusson just seemed to get even more annoyed by those two as he realized something. (they avoid him by crawling through the vents).

Barney had just finally been stepping away from his supervisor when he was suddenly called back, he groaned, ready to get yelled at some more, only to be (at first) relieved to discover that Kleiner needed him to come down to the offices, and then nervous to find out that it was actually Gordon who needed help.

Eli cleared away the crowd of other scientists getting them to go back to their work and let them handle this, when Barney finally arrived he did his best to explain what happened.

“I guess he was acting kinda off this morning…?” Barney shrugged, “But it wasn’t anything like this. I don’t know what happened.”

“Do you think you can get to him?” Eli asked, rubbing his beard nervously.

“Course I can, I practically know this whole vent system like the back of my hand.” A very odd thing to be proud of, “I’ll figure out what’s going on.”

Unfortunately, the vents weren't a good idea.

Gordon had missed their talking, as they had moved away from his door. He had been sitting there, staring at the bloodstained lab coat, trying to reason his way out of what he just saw. If it was real, then how did he magically change in and out of the HEV Suit instantly? But if it was fake, where did the bloodstain come from?

When he started hearing the thumping in the vents overheard, his vision began to blur as panic set in once again, as the lights started to flicker, his officer suddenly becoming a disaster, like it had been ransacked. 

Self-preservation began to take over his anxiety, he let the lab coat slip from his hands and he shakingly crawled under his desk, he desperately tried to slow his breathing, but as the thumping got closer, he found it almost impossible. With his back against his desk, he watched the wall, listening as thumping stopped above his ceiling. When the vent cover hit the floor, his vision blurred and when completely dark as he fell unconscious.

When Barney dropped out of the vent, the first thing he did was unlock the door for Kleiner and Eli. The second thing he did was see the stained lab coat that was laying on the ground.

“Oh my God…” He whispered as he kneeled down to pick it up scanning over the blood. but when he began to rise, his eyes spotted something else, from just under the desk. He could see Gordon's legs, he was on the ground motionless, “Oh my God!”

Eli pushed the door open the second he heard Barney shout, he and Kleiner froze in the doorway for a moment, when they looked into the room they saw the discarded lab coat and Barney pulling Gordon into his arms, they glanced at each other in a panic.

“C’mon, wake up….” Barney gently rubbed Gordon’s face, he looked up to the other two scientists, “I just found him, laying on the floor… There’s blood on his lab coat, but he isn’t bleeding from anywhere, I don’t know what happened…”

Eli kneeled down next to them, and placed a hand on Gordon’s head, “He’s burning up!” he turned to look at Kleiner, “Izzy, I thought you said he didn’t have a fever?”

“He didn’t when he asked me to check…” Kleiner was kneeling down with one of his arms resting on Gordon’s desk, “It must have come on suddenly…”

“I knew it! I knew he was sick!” Barney cursed himself for not acting on his instinct, “I have to get him home right away.”

“Maybe take him to a doctor,” Kleiner piped up, Barney stared at him for a moment, “the medical kind.” He clarified with raised eyebrows

“I knew that.” Barney cleared his throat and lifted Gordon into his arms, “Look, I’m gonna get him out of here, do me a favor and tell my supervisor what’s going on?”

“Of course.” Eli stood up with him, he reached over and adjusted Gordon so he’d be more comfortable, despite the kind smile on his and Kleiner’s faces, Barney could easily see the worry hidden just behind their eyes. 

Gordon opened his eyes to see Barney carrying him through the hallway, his breathing was slow and he felt exhausted. He let his eyes drift around, taking in where he was, the intersection that had the hallways leading to the test chamber.

It was completely normal. No dirt. No blood. No bullet holes. Just normal.

He let out a small gasp as he stared down the hallway, which caused Barney to stop and look down at him, “Gordon?” He asked with a shaking voice.

“Where…. Did it go….?” He asked. Barney followed his gaze, seeing nothing but a normal hallway for Black Mesa.

“Where did what go?” He asked as he scanned the area.

Gordon heard the question, although as the tiredness began to sweep over him again he had trouble responding, “Mon...ster…” was all he managed to get out before he passed out again.

That was not a comforting thing to say...

Hours passed before Gordon finally woke up again. Sitting up in bed like he’d just heard a gunshot go off, breathing heavily as he wiped the sweat from his brow. His eyes darted around the bedroom, for a moment he had no idea where he was. Once again, everything felt wrong.

He knew he had just been at Black Mesa, but he didn’t remember much after that.

“This isn’t where I’m supposed to be...” He thought to himself with fear, but another thought crept in “Where am I supposed to be…?”

He pulled himself from the bed and dragged himself to the bathroom of the master bedroom. He stared at his reflection, trying to figure out what was so wrong. Did something happen earlier this week?

There was his experiment getting shot down… But he didn’t actually remember that Kleiner just told him that happened and he believed him. He couldn’t remember a single thing that had happened this week, except everything that happened today.

He didn’t want to remember.

He stumbled out the bedroom door, rubbing his face, making his way towards the kitchen for a glass of water. He could hear people talking in the living room, but they didn’t seem to notice him stumbling past the door.

“How’s Gordon holding up?” Eli asked, watching Josh and Alyx play with little action figures, telling a story that none of the adults could quite figure out.

“His fever’s gone down, and I think he’s doing better. Stopped thrashing around at least.” Barney sighed heavily, “I mean, maybe Dr.Kleiner was wrong, maybe he did have a fever earlier. I should have checked.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Eli squeezed his shoulder a bit, “you didn’t know and he didn’t tell you anything was wrong. You’re not a psychic, Calhoun.”

Barney nodded, rubbing the back of his head, “Mm, yeah…” He looked thoughtful for a moment before lowering his voice and asking, “I know you can’t tell me much… But what goes on down in level 3?”

Eli was a bit surprised by the question, “A lot of that’s classified, but there is a series of test chambers down there, I can’t tell you what we’re testing though. Why?”

“He just… he mentioned something about there not being a monster there anymore when we passed that hallway.” He brushed that off with a laugh, “Guess I thought you guys were making some sort of monster down there that might have scared him!”

Eli laughed too and the pair carried on their conversation, Gordon leaned on the wall just out of sight. He smiled softly, just listening to Barney laugh and talk was able to comfort him. After listening for a few more moments, he continued to the kitchen, getting himself a glass of water.

He looked out the window as he sipped his drink, the sky was a dark unsettling yellow, and the wind was picking up at a rapid pace, his brows furrowed. That really wasn’t good. He leaned closer to the window and glanced around the neighborhood. Was it always so dirty? Or did the wind carry over dust and garbage?

‘No. No, just don’t think about it.’ He thought to himself, ‘Stop thinking about things! You’re gonna ruin it!’

He swallowed hard, ‘Ruin what…?’

Knock, knock.

There was someone at the door. In this weather? That could be dangerous.

Being the closest one to the front door, Gordon shuffled over to it, carrying his cup of water with him. No one should be outside in weather like this. He wasn’t only one who heard the knock, Barney had gotten up to go answer it, with Josh following at his heels.

“Babe, go back to bed,” Barney sighed as he spotted Gordon starting to answer the door, “I can handle this.”

“I”m feeling better, honest.” Gordon looked back at him as he pulled the door open.

“I’m glad to hear that, Mr.Freeman.”

Gordon froze completely, the cup slipping from his hand and breaking on the ground below. With a wide-eyed stare, he turned to see the man in the doorway. A face he didn’t want to recognize.

“It’s a lovely neighborhood you live in, Mr.Freeman.” Said the Man in the Suit, who was unaffected by the roaring winds, “Almost good enough for you to stay in.”

“No..” Gordon stumbled backward, his chest felt heavy and he struggled to catch his breath, soon falling into Barney’s arms, “Go away!” He said through gasps.

Barney held him defensively, he looked between the two of them “I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to leave, sir!” He hissed, pulling Josh closer to him as well.

“Mr.Freeman, please.” The Man walked into the house, the world behind him faded into black, “You can’t hide here forever.”

He began to remember what happened that week.

The experiment had gone through, he had been so excited to see the outcome. Everything went wrong. The aliens, the monsters, the fighting. He could remember the dark hallways, his coworkers telling him to leave them behind as he fought to escape, hoping desperately that everyone he loved was going to make it out okay.

He remembered being hunted down by the military that he had hoped had come to save them but instead had been sent to clean up everything and everyone in the complex. He remembered the adrenaline, the fear.  
Try as he might, he couldn’t push the memories away anymore.

“Yes, I can.” He held onto Barney and Josh, it was like if he let go then they’d vanish with the wind, “Things are better here…”

“Gordon, what are you talking about?” barney asked him, squeezing in response, “Who is this? What’s happening?”

“Dad, you’re scaring me..!” Joshua whimpered as his small eyes darted between his terrified father and the terrifying man in the door.

“Better? Yes… But is it real, Mr.Freeman?” The man waved his hand, the darkness crept closer to the family, “Can you hear Mr.Vance and little Alyx anymore? They’ve left your mind, they aren’t here anymore, are they?”

As the wind rushed into the home, Gordon felt cold, he didn’t want to accept that everything was gone. That the world he knew was gone forever.

“Shut up!” He buried his face in Barney’s chest.

“You love them all so much.” The man walked past him further into the home, darkness following at his heels, “Yet you stay with these false images of them?”

It was only when Gordon hit the ground that he realized Barney and Joshua had vanished from him, he looked at his empty arms in horror, his eyes welled with tears that spilled down his face.

“The real ones are waiting for you, Mr.Freeman.” They were the only two left now, stuck in a pit of darkness, “You cannot hide forever.” He began to back away from Gordon, who didn’t even look up at him.

“You must know, I took this away for your own benefit. It will be… easier to send you to work now…” He smiled, but Gordon didn’t look up to see it. He just stared silently.

It was a long time before he realized he was alone completely, even longer before he began to react to it all, ugly sobs escaping from him until there was nothing left to cry and he finally shut his eyes.

The Man in the Suit would call to him again eventually, waking him up in an unknown place. Well, sort of unknown, he knew it was a train, he just didn’t know where the train was or where it was going. All he could do was follow the other passengers as they stepped off and try to act like he belonged there.

The world around him was dingy and dirty, armed guards seemed to be waiting wherever he looked, everyone around him looked miserable. The only thing he knew for certain was that he was on Earth, but that was really it.

He walked through the path laid out ahead, hoping that things would get cleared up eventually, but that hope was cut short as he was asked to step aside by one of the guards. The guard led him down a dark hallway and into a bloodstained room where another guard waited for him.

He just woke up and everything was already going to shit. Great. Just fantastic.

When the door shut, the new guard pulled away the cameras that watched them and Gordon prepared himself to fight. Instead, the guard pulled off his helmet and turned to face him.

Gordon’s fists dropped to his side in a second.

“How about that beer I owe ya?” Barney said with a smile.

In an instant, Gordon rushed over to him, almost jumping on him as he hugged Barney. Burying his face into his shoulder and squeezing tightly. Barney was surprised for a moment but returned the hug, rocking ever so slightly.

“I missed ya too, Doc.” He sighed lovingly, he managed to turn them to face the console after not being able to pry Gordon off. He used his free hand to call Kleiner, “Hey, you’ll never guess who showed up?”

Kleiner adjusted his glasses, “You’re right. Who is that?” he squinting at Gordon, unable to recognize him from just his back.

“It’s Gordon Freeman!” Barney laughed, finally getting Gordon to lift his head and look at the camera, “He was about to board a train to Nova Prospects if you can believe it.”

“My goodness, Gordon it really is you!” Kleiner said with joy and relief, Gordon managed a small wave.

“I’ll send him your way as soon as I can.” barney eyed the door nervously, “We can’t waste much more time, I’ll call you back.” Kleiner gave a nod and Barney quickly hung up.

Gordon let go of the hug and stepped back, he didn’t want to leave, but he figured he didn’t really have much of a choice in this matter as Barney led him to the back door and instructed him on how to get to Kleiner’s lab.

“I’ll meet up with you there, okay?” Barney said with a smile, sounding very confident in himself. Gordon nodded seriously and walked outside, but before he got too far, barney grabbed his arm, “And hey, if you’re feeling up to it by then, I’d like to hear your voice again.”

He cracked a smile before signing a quick, ‘I love you.’ and heading off on his way, Barney watched him for a few moments then shut the door behind him.


	2. Imperfect World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gordon isn't the only one who found an interesting job opportunity, although Alyx is less comfortable in the world she finds herself in. Everything is so perfect, too perfect almost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished going through Half-Life: Alyx again (spoiler warning obvi) and I couldn't resist making another chapter for her situation after the game.
> 
> Btw, wanna see any art I do for this fic? follow my Tumblr @ agent-nightcrawler or my Instagram @ earthsinvader, hope you enjoy this bonus chapter!

Everything was cold at first, she could feel words echoing in her mind, but who’s they were and what they said were lost on her. She could feel a wave of grief wash over her, her heart sank and tears rolled down her cheeks. Something had happened, someone important was hurt.

“Alyx!” A man shouted. 

No, that wasn’t just any man, that was her dad, he was calling out to her. Just his voice seemed to spark a memory in her, her dad being taken away, her travels to rescue him, and then she traveled somewhere else. She couldn’t quite remember where.

“Alyx!” He yelled again, it was much clearer this time, “Alyx! You need to get up!”

Alyx’s eyes shot open and she snapped up in a flash as if she had woken from the most horrible dream imaginable. She rested a hand on her chest while she caught her breath, her heart felt like it was about to explode from her chest, in an instant her dad was by her side.

“Hey, hey, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He soothed, “Are you okay?”

Alyx looked around the room, coming to the horrible realization that she had no idea where she was, not only was everything too clean and intact but she also just didn’t recognize it. The only familiar thing here was her father.

“Where are we…?” She asked, looking at him in confusion.

“What are you talking about, honey?” he rested a hand on her shoulder, “We’re in your room, in our house?”

Her stomach twisted, everything about this was wrong, this wasn’t her home and this wasn’t her room. Yet something in her mind told her to play it safe until she knew for sure, so Alyx nodded slowly, “Right… yeah…” She cleared her throat, trying not to look at him.

He hummed worriedly for a moment before shaking his head, “You seem way too out of it, you should call in sick today, not to mention you’re already extremely late.”

She nodded quietly, having not even the slightest clue of what he was talking about, but man, he was certainly talking, “Could...Could you call for me?” She finally asked after some silence, a wave of relief came over her when he nodded in agreement.

“Of course, I’ll call in for you.” Eli stood up, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, “Get some rest, kiddo.” he gently closed the bedroom door as he left the room, leaving Alyx alone in the bed.

For what felt like ages, she remained still, waiting for something to happen, something to pop out and get her. But nothing did. Eventually, she convinced herself to get up and began to explore what was apparently her room.

On the walls were pictures of her and other people, who she could only assume were her friends, as well as pictures of her with her family. There were posters of things she didn’t recognize over her bed, and colorful curtains tinted the entire room rainbow. In the corner was a long desk, on one end was various electronics that were either being taken apart or built, it was hard to tell. On the other side was an old chunky computer and many stacks of paper, some of which had sketches of robots and machines on them.

Alyx brushed her hair from her face, it was such a normal room. Nothing like the rooms she’d had in the past. This one actually seemed like it had been lived in for multiple years, maybe even since she was a little kid. Somehow that was an almost scary thought for her.

She walked to the window and pushed the curtains aside, outside was truly strange for her. The skies were a beautiful blue, the grass was bright green and healthy, the trees were tall and covered in leaves. It was like nothing she’s ever seen before.

She pushed the window and just rested there, her head stuck out the window as she felt a warm summer breeze, a small animal raced along the fence line. Alyx guessed it was a squirrel, which was nice because those always sounded cute and she was right, they were very cute.

She then suddenly gasped like she had remembered something important. In no time, she had bolted out of the bedroom and was instantly lost in the hallway before her, though the house was small it seemed so large. She hugged herself as she began to walk down the hallway, all sense of urgency leaving her as her eyes drifted over the walls.

Pictures of her growing up and going to school lined the walls, as well as what appeared to be vacation photos of her with her dad…. And her mom… She stopped on a group photo, her parents and multiple other scientists all stood together, one of the scientists had his arm around a security guard who was holding his waist.

She squinted at the picture, remembering their faces, “That’s Dr.Kleiner, Dr.Magnusson, Dad...Mom… and…” it was a bit hard to tell with his helmet on, but she was fairly sure the security guard was her uncle Barney, the man Barney was holding by the waist then had to be Gordon Freeman. They were all dressed up like normal Black Mesa employees, nothing like the way she remembered any of them. Even Barney looked like he’d barely ever seen a fight. They were all just so... Normal…

“I don’t understand…” Alyx whispered to herself, “Just the other day we were fighting against the combine and now… it’s like none of that ever happened…” She stepped away from the picture and walked silently down the stairs, the whole house was silent and she was the only one home.

She didn’t linger long in the empty rooms and chose to instead make her way to the back door, where she finally stepped outside fully, the warm sun falling over her and warming her deep into her soul. It was so comforting but so off at the same time. Standing on the back porch, she scanned the whole backyard, settling onto a doghouse. She furrowed her brows.

“That is way too small for him.” She grumbled, then began to whistle and pat her knees, “Here boy! Come here, Dog!”

While she had expected the rather large Dog she had been working on for the past several years, what she got instead was a robot dog that only came up to her hip (which is big for a normal dog, yes, but for Dog himself? Not really).

“What?” Alyx let out an exasperated sigh, “All the work I put into you, poof! Gone in a flash…” something in the back of her mind screamed at her to be more worried about this, but she just wasn’t, like there was some force keeping her calm.

Dog, being a dog and also a robot, didn’t say anything in response to her, he just made a few bweeps and boops. She couldn’t help but smile and pat his head anyway.

“You may have somehow lost all your mods, but you’re still my Dog.” She sat on her knees and just held his head in her hands, trying to process everything that was happening to her. “Was it all a dream?” she wondered aloud, “No, no there’s no way I could just dream all that up. It had to be real.” She shifted so she could lay down, resting her head on Dog’s back, “But then… How did all of this happen? What happened to me before I woke up”

Dog made a confused beeping noise, and she reached over to pat his head, “Don’t worry, buddy.” She began replaying what she last remembered over and over in her mind, trying to figure out where she went wrong when everything changed.

“I was going to rescue dad...then he had some info about the vault and…” She sat right up, “The vault! That’s it! This has to have something to do with the vault!” Her epiphany was met with only a stare from her robot companion, who had yet to magically gain the ability to speak, she stared back for a moment before sighing and patting his face, “Thanks for the words of wisdom, buddy.”

Alyx stood up and stretched her arms up to the sky, slowly the world was starting to feel more sinister, the blue sky seemed to have dimmed and the greenery around her had even darkened a shade. Although, she wasn’t really sure if she was seeing that correctly or not. She glanced back down at Dog, and while his expression never changed something about his stare seemed less friendly.

She gulped nervously, “Okay, Alyx,” She said to herself, “you’re just freaking yourself out. Let’s just figure out what to do…” She backed inside the house, shutting the door behind her so Dog couldn’t follow, “So… What do we know…? Um, the Cascade never happened here apparently, there aren’t any Combine, my mom’s alive, and everything is non….well, non fucked up.” She had begun to pace through the house, not exactly looking at anything in particular.

“So the vault somehow took me to this other world where everything is okay?” She scratched her head, then groaned, “None of this makes any sense!” There was always the other option, that everything before now really had been a dream, but she couldn’t bring herself to even consider that.

Eventually, she leaned against the wall, rubbing her temples as she tried to think of something, any sort of plan when her eyes caught on something. A nametag resting on a small table in the corner of the living room near the door. She approached it, only to be greeted by her own picture and name on it. More specifically, it was Black Mesa character ID card, and apparently not only did she work at Black Mesa but she worked in the Engineering Department.

It made sense, of course, if the Cascade never happened, Black mesa would obviously still be around, it was where everything started. As Alyx stared at herself in the picture, she began to think.

“Black Mesa was the catalyst to all of this, so maybe they’ll have some answers.” She bit her tongue as she took in every detail of the ID Card, remembering everything she’d ever been told about Black Mesa, “Dad said the experiment happened on level 3, but...I guess I don’t have that clearance…” She tapped her thumb against the card, giving the prominent ‘Level 1’ a glare like that would change anything, “Guess I’m a recent hire.”

Alyx was starting to work out a plan, and while it wasn’t exactly a good plan, it was the only one she had. She had to get into Black Mesa, down to the level 3 test chamber, and see if she could find anything on the Cascade. Although really, she’d take any information she could get her hands on at this point.

Not too far off Alyx could hear the sound of a car door closing, not close enough to be in front of her house, but still close by. She crept to any window near the front of the house, from there she could see her neighbors stepping out of the car. One of them was clearly a scientist and the other was-

‘It was Barney and Gordon!’ She very quickly realized, although as she noticed them, they also seemed to notice her, as Gordon gave a wave and motioned for her to come out, Alyx was quick to comply, stepping out of the house and walking over to them. Her main goal was to try and seem as normal as possible and not like she was mentally flipping her lid.

“You guys are home early.” She guessed by the fact that her dad wasn’t back yet, although she already had about 12-excuses lined up if she was wrong about that. Always good to have a back-up plan.

“Yeah,” Barney chuckled, no back-up plan needed, “a certain someone got in trouble for pulling a few all-nighters again.” He nudged Gordon in the side, “So I’ve been charged with making sure he goes home and stays there until he’s well-rested again. Doctor’s orders.”

“Which Doctor?” Gordon asked, looking over at Barney with a silly smile, “Black Mesa’s full of them!” He began to laugh, and Barney just rolled his eyes.

“He wouldn’t be finding this nearly as funny if he actually slept. Really he’s just proving my point right now.” Barney said in a very calm voice while Gordon continued to lose his mind laughing next to him.

Alyx couldn’t help but laugh a bit too, it was just infectious. There was just something nice about Barney finally being able to live the happy life he used to always talk about, even if this wasn’t the real Barney that she knew and loved. She took this time to investigate the pair, while Barney tried to get Gordon to stop laughing at his own bad joke.

Since they had just come from work, they were still dressed in their uniforms, both of their ID’s showing that they had a very high-level clearance. Exactly like Alyx needed. Gordon’s hair was speckled with gray strands, matching Barney’s own. On his and Barney’s left hands, they both wore matching rings. She remembered her dad telling her about those when she was younger, this Barney and Gordon had actually been able to get married.

They’d never gotten the chance before.

In every way she could see, this world was better. Happier. Then the one she came from. Try as she might though, she just couldn’t get herself comfortable. Something about how safe everything was just made her feel uncomfortable and wrong, there was no way there wasn’t some secret underlying threat.

There always was.

Eventually, Gordon got himself to stop laughing. Turning his attention to Alyx instead, “Oh, yeah, how are you feeling? Eli mentioned you were feeling today. He asked us to check on you too.”

“He asked ME to check on you.” Barney corrected, “He and Azian just yelled at Gordon to take care of himself.”

“Alright, alright.” Gordon folded his arms, “I get the point, hun.”

“Oh, right, um.” Alyx tugged at her sleeves, “I’m doing better now, guess I just needed the rest.”

“Have you been eating enough, drinking water?” Barney pressed.

“Yeah, I am. You don’t have to worry about me, Barney.” The tone of her voice was enough to indicate that she wasn’t going to answer any questions, Barney gave Gordon an odd look that she couldn’t quite decipher, Gordon gave a small nod in response to it. The whole interaction just rang warning bells in her mind.

“Well,” Gordon gave her a small wave, “I’m gonna head inside. You get some rest too, okay?” He didn’t wait for her response, as he walked inside his home, with Barney following behind him soon after.

Alyx made sure they were both gone before she turned her back on them and headed for her own “home”, before stepping inside herself, she noticed that the sky seemed darker yet again. It was the middle of the day, not at all time for the sun to be setting.

Now everything felt like it was watching her, even the plants. The damned plants. If they’d have eyes, they’d look very sinister right about now. There was nowhere she felt safe, not even with Dog. Nothing about this place was her home, nothing about it was comfortable.

As weird as it sounds, she actually preferred the practically destroyed city she’d come to know. But for now, Alyx would have to settle for using her fake bedroom as a base of operations, even if it was missing all of her projects. What it lacked in memories it made up in scrap paper and writing utensils.

She got to work quickly, sketching up a plan. When the sun sets, she’d sneak into Barney’s house, steal his ID card, and head for Black Mesa. Logically, she could take her dad’s ID, if Gordon and Barney had such high-level clearance, it only made sense that he would too. Alyx just couldn’t bring herself to steal from her dad, even if it was just a fake version of him.

With her plan written out and being worked through to every logical extent she could think of, Alyx set to preparing herself. No doubt that Black Mesa would be secure, ID or not, she wouldn’t just be able to waltz right in in the dead of night, and waiting until the next morning wouldn’t be a better idea. Barney would quickly realize his ID was gone and there was no telling how long it would take these fakes to suspect her of taking.

“I’ll need a disguise…” She mumbled as she pulled open her dresser and began digging for clothes similar to Barney’s guard uniform.

Eventually, she was able to dig out black pants and blue button-up, it wasn’t exactly right, but hopefully, no one would look too hard at her. If she walked with confidence, no one would suspect her. Well, as long as she snatched a vest and helmet along with the ID, then no one would suspect her.

“Okay, I have a plan, I have most of the disguise, now all I need is a weapon.” She reached instinctively for her hip, only now coming to the realization that her gun was gone and not only the gun but the Russel’s as well, “Oh shit. Russ is gonna kill me when I get back…” she grumbled.

Not wanting to count the gloves and her gun as out of the picture quite yet, mainly because she really dreaded having to tell Russel she managed to lose them both, Alyx began to dig around in the room. Tossing up anything that either object could be potentially hiding behind, and while she found many toy guns and even a foam sword or two, no actual weapons came up.

“Why would anyone need so many fake weapons?” She practically yelled at the piles of toys sitting before her, “What’s the point of them?” they didn’t even seem that useful for training, maybe because most of the guns were missing the foam darts that came with them. At least a sword didn’t need ammo.

“I guess I could always grab a knife from the kitchen…” Alyx grumbled, pushing the pile partly under her desk in a very half-hearted attempt to clean up the mess she’d made in the bedroom, “This place gets bleaker and bleaker by the moment.”

She took another moment to glance out the window at the darkened sky, maybe now it made sense that the sun would be going down, but that didn’t make it look any less sinister. Like the more she did the more she angered the world around her.

“Oh, shoot!” She snapped her fingers, being reminded by the dark sky, “I’ll need a flashlight too. Hm, and maybe a car.” She got up from her spot on the floor and hurried out into the house. The sky grew darker.

She took this time to not only look for her flashlight but to hopelessly look for her gun as well. Occasionally, she’d think she found it, but on closer inspection, there was never any gun. Much to her annoyance. Then she had to come to the more annoying fact, there wasn’t a single flashlight in the house, at least not one that she could find. It wasn’t like she was being selective in what drawers or closets she looked through, either. If it was closed, Alyx opened it and dug through it until there was nothing new to see...

“So, no flashlight. I’ll go in blind then.” She made her way back to the kitchen, “I’ll at least grab a weapon while I’m down...here…” she trailed off as she looked around, she could have sworn there was a knife block on the counter last time she was in here, but now it was gone, and she already knew there weren’t any knives in the drawers.

Alyx backed out of the kitchen, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. As she began to walk back to her room, she noticed that the house had been put back together completely, like she hadn’t just spent a few hours destroying it while on a scavenger hunt. The worst thing being, when she pushed open the door to her room and found everything was perfect again.

Her plans had vanished from her desk, the disguise she’d laid out was gone, everything was in its proper place. Something that she definitely remembered NOT doing.

“This is messed up.” She brushed her hands through her hair, looking all around herself. Knowing full well now that this world was working directly against her. She didn’t have time to think for long, the front door opened.

She could hear the sound of keys jingling as they were being hung up, the thumping of shoes being dropped into their spots on the floor, and the happy chatter of a man and a woman. Even though this was technically her home while she lived in this world, just hearing all of that made her feel like an intruder.

One pair of footsteps made their way up the stairs, and they were her dad’s recognizable steps. The steps came closer to her room, eventually stopping at her door, punctuated with a small knock.

“Alyx, honey, are you up?” asked a lady that Alyx could only assume was her mom.

For a moment, she wasn’t sure what to say. Alyx had obviously never met her mom and she didn’t know what to expect from her, not to mention that no matter how real she felt, this wasn’t her real mother.

“Alyx?” She asked again.

Alyx shook her head and finally responded, “Yeah, I’m up. Come in.”

The door pushed open and a lady stood on the other side. She looked exactly like the picture Alyx had spent ages looking at as a little girl. Alyx swallowed hard, trying to keep down the welling emotions. Reminding herself that she had to act casual, she couldn’t give these fakes any sign of weakness to latch onto.

“How are you feeling?” Azian asked as she walked closer to rest a hand on Alyx’s forehead, “Wish I had a chance to come see you this morning, but I was already in such a rush.” Alyx could hear the guilt in her voice.

“I’m fine, and it’s no trouble. You had to get to work.” Her voice cracked when she tried to speak, breaking her ‘perfectly fine’ persona.

“You don’t sound fine.” Her mom rested her hands on her shoulders, “What’s going on, you can tell me!” She gave Alyx such a sweet smile, but it didn’t work. Alyx shrugged her hands off and stepped back.

“I’m just tired, that’s all.” She lied, trying to sound as un-upset as possible, “I promise, I’m okay.”

“If you say so…” Azian didn’t look like she believed Alyx even a little bit, but she changed the subject nonetheless, “What do you want for dinner? Whatever you ask for, I’ll make it.”

Alyx walked to her bed and sat down, just trying to keep her eyes off of her mom, “I’m not hungry tonight, mom. Um, sorry.”

“Right, well let me know if you change your mind.” She quietly walked out of the room, pulling Alyx’s door closed behind her. Alyx held her breath until her footsteps got distant.

“Oh my God….” She gasped, rubbing at her face, “That was…” she just shook her head, trying to take deep, calming, breaths, “I need to get out of here as soon as possible, I don’t know how long I can keep this up.” She said to herself as she rested her head in her hands.

Trying to prepare for her heist that night proved to be a failure, as the disguise she’d picked out before wasn’t magically put away, but completely gone from existence, now leaving her without any clothes that resembled the uniform. While that certainly put another hitch in her plan, it wasn’t enough for her to call it off completely.

Instead, she dressed in the darkest clothes she had and tucked herself into bed. Faking being asleep until it was time for her to begin. Which was definitely the right idea, not too long after the sunset, her parents did come to check on her. The second her door opened, she could practically feel their suspicion of her coming off in waves, it was almost overwhelming. After they were finally gone, she waited an hour or two more, just to be fully sure that neither of them was coming back.

When she was sure she was safe, Alyx went for the window, not wanting to risk going out the front door and being spotted. While she’d gone on her fair share of stealth missions (-ahem- Jeff -ahem-), this one felt particularly high-stakes. Well, okay, maybe it was the second most high-stakes one she’d been one, (again, Jeff).

The streets were dark and empty, not a single star made an appearance on the night sky, leaving it an ominous inky black. Like a void that threatened to consume her and everyone on the planet. Despite there being no light around her, Alyx kept to the least visible places. Keeping close the walls as she snuck around the house, looking for any carelessly unlocked door or window.

‘Look at me,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’m like an old-timey villain or something.’ she had to hold back a snicker at the thought of her actually being a criminal. Although, he really was about to be, considering she was breaking into somebody's house. Family or not, still breaking and entering.

She was finally able to work open a window lock and slip inside the house, the inside being almost an exact duplicate of the home she’d just come from. At least, layout-wise. The pictures and furniture were different, but in a sort of someone just recolored them and moved their positions slightly kind of way.

This was just another reason on a very long list of reasons to not trust this place.

She walked as silently as she could through the house, checking everywhere she could for either man’s ID card. Barney’s ID had been her goal at first, but now she just wanted to get in and get out as fast as possible, so it didn’t really matter now.

Unluckily for her, neither ID card had been left on the first floor. Keeping to the walls (flooring is more settled near walls and heavy furniture, and thus, is less likely to squeak or make noise), she climbed the stairs. Unlike her home, there wasn’t a spare bedroom, just one long hallway leading to the master bedroom.

“Guess Josh moved out…” she mumbled and tried to keep herself calm as she approached the door. Alyx took a deep breath and slowly pushed the door open. In a stroke of luck, not only were they both asleep, but there was a dresser right near the door. On it rested Barney’s ID.

She held in a sigh of relief and grabbed the card, but when she looked up her heart sank. Barney was sitting straight up and staring her down. But he didn’t move, he was completely, unnaturally still. He wasn’t even breathing.

Alyx held the ID tightly as she backed away from the bedroom, Gordon sitting up in response to her movements. Her heart began to race and she froze in place, like a deer in headlights.

“Are... Are you guys okay?” She asked.

“Put that back, Ms.Vance.” Barney responded in a voice that wasn’t his, “You don’t need it.”

The pair stood from the bed, there were still in their clothes from the day. Like the second they stepped into their home, their lives just paused. Now they were unpaused and they were angry, not only were they angry, but they were heading right for Alyx.

“Shit!” She hissed and bolted down the steps, wasting no time looking for the window she’d climbed through and instead forced herself through the front door, her footsteps echoing down the street as she to make her way to Black Mesa.

In the time she took to look over her shoulder not only did she see that she was being chased by more than just Gordon and Barney, but she also slammed right into another person. In an instant, she was on the ground and the ID card had slipped from her hands.

Alyx groaned as she started to pick herself up, only to be pulled up harshly by her false dad and Barney. Once she was on her feet, they still didn’t let go, keeping firm grips on both of her arms. Leaving her to simply shake the hair from her face so she could see who stopped her.

Before her stood a very pale man, with eyes that were icy cold. Just seeing him was enough to bring the memories of what happened in the vault crawling back into her mind, this wasn’t some world in the vault, and getting out wasn’t going to be easy.

“What’s the matter, Ms.Vance?” He began to walk around her, vanishing and appearing in different places while she struggled to keep an eye on him, “Is this world not good enough for you?”

“Let me go!” She ordered like she had any say in this.

He appeared in front of her again, his hands folded nicely behind his back, “I’m afraid I don’t understand, Ms.Vance. This is your perfect world, is it not? I am giving you a very special chance to live normally.”

“I don’t want to live here, I want to go home!” 

“How very odd…” He hummed, and Gordon came to his side, in response, the man rested a hand on his shoulder, “Mr.Freeman wanted to live in a world such as this. So much so that he was ready to forget about you all for it. To leave you behind for his perfect world.”

Alyx’s eyes darted between the two of them, trying to grasp what he was saying, “You’re lying! Gordon was kidnapped after Black Mesa!”

This seemed to assume the man, “Kidnapped? No. After coming into my employment, he chose to hideaway. He knew about the trouble you all would be in, and chose to forget it.”

“You really expect me to believe that?” Alyx was glaring daggers into his soul, but it had no effect on him.

“Believe what you like, Ms.Vance.” He stepped away from Gordon and came closer to her, “I am going to give you a choice, you may live in this world until you are needed or you may leave it now. Which do you choose?”

“Wow, you must really think I’m stupid!” she laughed, “I want out of here!”

He smiled a sickly smile at her and the world was soon consumed by that inky black void of a sky. Slowly, everyone but Alyx and the man vanished from sight, consumed by the shadows around them.

“I do hope you’re happy with your choice, Ms.Vance.” He began to step away from Alyx, who was looking at the emptiness around her.

“Wait, wait!” Alyx tried to stop him, “You said I could leave! You said-” but he was already gone and she was alone. Feeling lied too and betrayed. At first, all Alyx could think to do was run, hoping to find some sort of exit, but the hope didn’t last long as she grew more and more exhausted.

Soon, all she could do was sit and wait, while her mind raced and raced about everything she’d just been told.

“Gordon...He didn’t really try to abandon everyone. That’s stupid.” She told herself and she did believe it, but as time went on, the less it felt true. She’d have to ask him when she saw him again.

She had to see him again. Gordon, her dad, Barney, Russ, they’d all come looking for her and they’d save her. She just knew it. Soon enough, Alyx was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How I wish I knew what to write for when the Gman eventually brings her out for a job, but I'd like to wait until that's showed to us. Which, we hopefully won't have to wait for too long. Hopefully.
> 
> Also, I'm posting this the day before my birthday! Yay!
> 
> But really, I hope you guys enjoyed this, thanks for the nice comments on the last chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> The second read-through of this was mainly me looking for any time I misspelled "Barney" as "Benrey", hopefully, I was able to catch them all and none got in. I based a lot of Gordon's responses to trouble off of how I respond to things, and that was interesting to think about for me.
> 
> (Turn The Lights off by Tally Hall and Where Are All the Scientists Now? by Jukebox The Ghost both gave my brain ideas for this)


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